DTV station list hits 601

November 19, 2002

The NAB said that 21 more stations signed on with a digital signal last week, bring the running total of stations on-the-air with a digital signal to 601. Several NAB executives and other industry supporters stated earlier in the year that most stations would be on the air by the end of 2002, but with just more than one month left, that number falls short of the approximately 1,288 who were supposed to be on-the-air by May 1 of this year.

The NAB said local broadcasters are delivering five or more digital television signals to 62 percent of all U.S. television households while 93.76 percent live in markets where there is at least one station broadcasting in digital (or 163 designated market areas). Whether consumers with an outdoor antenna can actually receive those channels varies from market to market.

The NAB said that in the past month, 87 stations have made the switch to digital broadcasting and 380 stations have made the transition in the last 12 months. With the new DTV stations, 93.76 percent of Americans now live in markets where there is at least one station broadcasting in digital.